LAKEWOOD – On the job for just two weeks, state monitor Michael Azzara flexed his muscle at Tuesday's Board of Education meeting, overruling the school board and approving the new $151 million school budget on his own.

The dramatic turn of events happened after a three-hour school board meeting, where school officials discussed changes to the proposed 2014-15 school budget. One of the changes included reinstating courtesy busing for public and private school students in kindergarten through third grade.

To read more about spending in the Lakewood schools, see

Cheated: Why Lakewood public schools have failed and what we can do to fix them

The vote to reject the budget was five no, two yes and one abstention. In explaining his "no" vote, board member Chaim Rosenblatt said he could not vote for next year's budget because it was too similar to this year's, which he said failed the district. Board members would not explain their vote after the meeting.

Why would a school board reject its own budget? As part of the budget approval process, the board and administration propose a budget and, after holding a public hearing, the members of the board can vote to approve or, in rare cases, reject it. Rejections usually mean the budget has to be redone and passed before the new school year begins July 1.

Azzara made no comment when he told the board, which is composed of a majority of residents who send their children to private Orthodox Jewish religious schools, that he was overriding their rejection of the budget.

The 200 people who attended the meeting appeared astonished by the sudden turnaround. The Rev. Glenn Wilson, founder of UNITE Lakewood, or United Neighbors Improving Today's Equality, said the monitor's ruling ushers in a new era in the school district. Wilson is one of the leaders of a coalition of minority residents and public school supporters who have organized to protest any program cuts by the school board.

"We support what the monitor did tonight,'' Wilson said. "There are decisions that we are going to support, and there are choices he makes that we are not going to be happy with. As we have said from the start, it's good to have another set of eyes on things."

"In this budget, we don't have a lot of room for growth," Thomas D'Ambola, district business administrator, said. "We have some but not much."

The 2010 census reported that Lakewood was the largest municipality in Ocean and Monmouth counties and the seventh largest in the state. According to projections, Lakewood's population could expand to 220,000 by 2030.

"If everything was kept the status quo, then there would be sufficient funds," said Dieter P. Lerch, district auditor. "Based on historical trends this budget could see a $3.9 million gap (next school year) if we get the growth that we have seen."

Before the board voted against the budget, school officials had outlined several changes to the proposed spending plan. Among the most significant: After a complete review of the budget by district officials and Azzara, the township school district found the $3 million needed to pay for busing kindergarten through third-grade students who live within 2 miles of school.

"A lot of work was done to keep the non-mandated transportation in the budget," D'Ambola said. "There was a lot of pain putting this budget together. This is not a perfect budget."

Azzara, who had delayed last week's vote so he could review the proposed spending plan, endorsed the new budget prior to the board's rejection. He said some of the changes in the budget were because of bookkeeping errors. Additional savings were found in areas such as insurance costs, transportation management fees and health care savings.

"When I looked at this budget, I tried to protect the public school programs,'' Azzara said. "The reduction in health care cost is because the increased contributions by employees were left out of the budget.''

Earlier this year, the district proposed going out for a special question to raise $12 million for a variety of programs including courtesy busing. Under the new budget, the district is seeking $3.9 million for courtesy busing for students in fourth through 12th grade.

State law does not require school districts to provide busing for kindergarten-through-eighth grade students who live less than two miles from school or high school students who live within 2.5 miles. Students who live closer to their schools but are bused are done so as "courtesy."

Prior to the board's vote, Michelle Jackson, whose 14-year-old daughter is in middle school, said that parents are committed to continue to fight for their public school students.

"If it was a bunch of us public school parents up there deciding the fate of your private school students, you would be upset," said Jackson, 39. "We just want equality for our public school students."

The proposed budget is supported by an $84.6 million tax levy. The budget includes $42 million for salaries, $13 million for health benefits, $26 million for special education and $17 million for transportation. District officials did not release the tax rate during the hearing.

As Lakewood continued its rapid growth over the last five years, the school district has struggled to keep up with rising transportation costs and increased spending on special education for students at private schools, the majority of which are Orthodox religious schools.

More than half of Lakewood's residents follow Orthodox Judaism. About 54,000 residents — or more than half — were Jewish in 2009, according to a 2011 survey of Jewish populations by the University of Miami and University of Connecticut. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, more than 92,000 people lived in the township. The Orthodox population has only grown since, attracted by a large, prestigious rabbinical college and an entire community of expanding yeshivas.

The booming population has made the district's ability to maintain its buildings and continue funding basic programs a struggle.